“It's time to wake up now, sweetie,” that same silvery woman’s voice whispers softly

“Mr and Mrs Fry? I am Doctor Allistar. I have some bad news. The chances are very slim that Gwen will ever wake up. That fall she took had caused her brain to swell; by the time the doctors in India got her into an MRI to see if there was any damage, it was already too late. We can make her comfortable in long our coma patient ward, but as I said, there is little chance she will ever wake up. The baby she carried was at six weeks when Gwen miscarried. I’m sorry.”

“Bryanna!  You get your little tushie back here and wash your hands!  You know the rules! After playtime we wash our hands!”

“But Mo-om! Chrissy didn’t wash his hands! Why do I have to?” Bryanna shouts. 

In walks Theo, grinning ear to ear, with the kite they were playing with out in the park. Kayla barking, tail wagging, prances in the door. 

“Theodore!  Grab Kayla!  I just washed the floors this morning!”  She bends over and drops Chrissy in the playpen. Chrissy, not happy about leaving his mother, starts to shriek, his hands up in the air, demanding to be picked up. 

Theo ignores the request to get Kayla and reaches for Gwen’s hips. Pulling her close to him, his lips find hers. She forgets about being a mother, she forgets about being a wife.  Her body wakes; she is a woman once more. Her body is alive, responding to his touch. Her hands go up into his hair, down over his ears. 

Theo pulls back from her lips…  “Gwenevere my love… It’s time to wake up.”

Her eyes narrow at him, her face turns slightly angry. “No. I don’t want to wake up. You died. I don’t want to live without you. Don’t you see?  I can’t live without you!” Tears fall down her face as she tells him of his fate in the real world. 

She looks around at the family room.  Toys everywhere, Chrissy in his playpen chewing on a toy. Finger painting up on the walls, pictures of them at Frank and Crystal’s wedding. Their trip to Alaska to mark their three month anniversary, a picture of them at the airport as she was leaving for India and so many of them in between. Pictures of their wedding, of the kids, of picnics, of family holidays together. Pictures of the night sky looking up through a halo of trees.

All the memories she has filled in, after she returned to Theo after India. 

“Theodore, I said no. I can’t live without you.” Her tears fall over her cheeks.

“Dr. Allistar?  Why is Gwen crying?” Mrs. Fry asks.

“It’s her body’s way of lubricating her eyes. It’s nothing. How are you doing today, Mrs.